Atlanta Soccer News: Art, Music and Culture: Georgia Soccer to lower fees by $9.50 per player for all adult players/members

Georgia Soccer Lowers Adult Fees

At the June Georgia Soccer Board of Directors meeting, the representative members voted to lower fees by $9.50 per player for all adult players/members of Georgia Soccer. Further, Georgia Soccer executive director Rick Skirvin has negotiated with the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) to pass on a $1 reduction in national fees for all new clubs joining through Georgia Soccer.

“Working closely with the executive director, our adult board reps really took the lead in advocating a new model for the growth of our adult program,” said Rick Skirvin. “This issue has been under discussion for the last two adult council general meetings and it was their leadership that got us to this point.”

This action is unprecedented in that the adult fees were last reduced in 2009 and held ever since at $24 per player. Fees have decreased close to 40 % to $14.50 per player. This, with the additional fee reduction for new members, should help motivate adult soccer clubs join Georgia Soccer for the benefits that we all enjoy.

Georgia Soccer’s youth participation fees haven’t been raised in the last 7 years even with the increase in cost of living and increased insurance coverage costs.

In order to find the dollars in our operating budgets, Georgia Soccer is relying on a few strategies:

1. The Georgia Soccer Board anticipates that there will be growth in adult membership and positive economies of scale with that growth. That is, more adult soccer clubs joining (in some cases from youth affiliates creating adult programs) thus sharing the benefits and keeping costs down.
2. Sponsorship this year has generated new dollars that will offset this decrease in fees and help maintain youth fees.

Already we can feel the impact of this decision. Three adult clubs have already submitted and on Saturday were approved to join Georgia Soccer.